Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698945370432.pdf (South Africa)
N’S E T R E R M A W O C H SUMMARY: 2020 WOMEN’S PARLIAMENT REPORT Generation Equality: Advancing our collective efforts to end Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Table Of Contents INTRODUCTION..................................................................................... 4 ENDING GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AND FEMICIDE (GBVF) : THE ROLE OF THE LEGISLATIVE SECTOR: ....................................... 6 CHALLENGES........................................................................................ 9 RECOMMENDATIONS..........................................................................10 National Government ..............................................................12 Departments of Health and Social Development ....................13 Department of Basic Education ..............................................14 Department of Trade and Industry .........................................14 Department of Small Business and Development ..................14 Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities ..16 Department of Labour ...........................................................17 Provincial Government ........................................................ 19 Local Government .............................................................. 20 South African Police Service .............................................. 22 Judiciary ............................................................................. 24 Parliament .......................................................................... 26 Civil society ............................................................................ 28 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................... 28 INTRODUCTION On 28 August 2020, Parliament of the Republic of South Africa hosted a hybrid Women’s Parliament.
Some of the delegates were physically present in Parliament’s National Assembly while others participated on a Zoom virtual platform.
The Women’s Parliament was convened under the theme, Generation Equality: Advancing our collective efforts to end Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF), with the following objectives: A three-sphere report back to appraise the nation on progress made to implement GBVF and economic empowerment executive undertakings; Receive detailed reports on challenges that prevent accelerated progress; and Receive action plans to end GBVF to be undertaken over the next 12 months.
The Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Ms Sylvia Lucas (MP), delivered the opening remarks and welcomed all delegates to the hybrid Women’s Parliament.

She reflected on the resolutions and highlights of the Women’s Parliament convened in August 2019 and reminded delegates of a resolution taken to intensify efforts to end Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) due to the alarming levels in South Africa.
She detailed progress about a process to review the 1994 Women’s Charter for Effective Equality and described the 2020 Women’s Parliament as a platform to distil points of views that must shape and influence state policy on GBVF.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) records statistics of contact crime where contact crime refers to those crimes in which the victims themselves are the targets of violence.
during This is a representation of children and women murdered the period 2019 – 20 and translates to 3,638 women and children murdered between 2019 and 2020 and further translates to 9 deaths per day.
83 202 women assaulted in 2019-20 2 695 women murdered in 2019-20 943 children murdered in 2019-20 10 692 children assaulted in 2019-20 SAPS Crime Statistics 2019 – 2020: Contact and Sexual Crimes against women and children ENDING GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AND FEMICIDE (GBVF): THE ROLE OF THE LEGISLATIVE SECTOR The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Lechesa Tsenoli (MP) provided an overview of the role of the legislative sector in addressing GBVF.
He pointed out the role of legislators in creating a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society, resulting in a society capable of removing historic and current practices and obstacles that promote GBVF.

He emphasised the importance of recognising the legacy of colonial apartheid as a root cause to some of the problems that South Africa is currently confronting, but also to recognise that some of the current challenges are due to the current dispensation.
The Deputy Speaker urged the Executive to work faster, better and in the interest of the public, and, to curb maladministration, including corruption and abuse of public resources.

He spoke out against discriminatory practices against the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual, plus community.
The need for an urgent programme of action from all three arms of state was stressed as the government has a collective responsibility to roll-out the implementation of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) to end GBVF in South Africa.

Parliament has a constitutional responsibility to fulfil its oversight role in ensuring adherence and implementation of the NSP across all spheres of government.
https://www.justice.gov.za/vg/gbv/NSP-GBVF-FINAL-DOC-04-05.pdf Delegates noted the challenges brought about by COVID-19, which led to an increase in incidences of GBVF, but also left many more women vulnerable.

In this regard, the delegates called for urgent, intensified, and responsive implementation of all key undertakings, coupled with adequate funding, effective oversight, monitoring and evaluation.
06 DEFINITIONS F V B G A definition for GBV in South Africa can be found in the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998, which defines domestic violence as physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and psychological abuse, economic abuse, intimi- dation, harassment, stalking, damage to property, and more.

Femicide: According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, there is “no commonly agreed definition of what constitutes ‘femicide’”.
The UN agency says that “the conventional understanding conveys the idea that hate crimes against women are perpetrated by men simply because of the gender roles assigned to women.” This is a similar definition used by South Africa’s statistical agency, Stats SA : “The intentional killing of females (women or girls) because they are females.” http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/Report-03-40-05/Report-03-40-05June2018.pdf CHALLENGES 3 Women killed by their intimate partners every day; Violence against women is a daily lived reality for many women; Femicide rate 5 times the global average; Psychological, financial, and emotional abuse not given the same recognition as physical abuse; Sexual abuse of children recognized as the country’s silent pandemic; Women are not safe in homes, workspaces and public spaces; COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in GBVF; Slow progress and lack of coordination between different programmes fighting violence against women and no platform to drive a coherent response; Delays in finalisation of the costing of the NSP likely to compromise implementation; Implementation of NSP slow; NSP silent on linkage between sexually explicit material and the role of pornography in perpetuating violence; Systemic challenges in police services; Backlog of DNA testing; Shortage of rape kits at police stations; Secondary victimisation endured by rape victims of GBVF; and Protection orders failing victims of GBVF.
RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendations that emanated from submissions made at the Women’s Parliament include: The need to bring men and boys into the fight against GBVF; The Men’s Sector was tasked to coordinate and institutionalise the Men’s Parliament, as well as to develop the South African Men’s Charter; Implementation of mass mobilization programmes advocating preventative measures to end GBVF; for Adequate care, support and healing for victims of violence; Adequate provision of safe houses; Adequate deployment of social workers across districts and municipalities; The increase of funding for mental health and support for counselling programmes; Reducing alcohol and drug abuse; Measures to improve the economic power of women across all districts in the provinces; Reducing poverty and enhance school completion for both boys and girls; Vigorous enforcement for protection of women and children; Increase support for parenting programmes and vulnerable parents, young mothers, poor mothers; and Stronger enforcement of existing legislation.
WOMEN’S PARLIAMENT 11 National Government Government Departments to create an enabling environment for responsive law enforcement by ensuring adequate resourcing over short, medium and long term; Government in partnership with research institutions to regularly conduct society-wide research in order to be updated on emerging trends, and to ensure adoption and implementation of evidence-based programmes and inter ventions.
The Interim Steering Committee overseeing the implementation of the NSP should ensure that this happens; All Government Departments and entities should ensure to stipulated preferential procurement strict adherence for quotas non-compliance; for women with consequence management related to actively address all National departments challenges implementation of programmes aimed at eradicating GBVF within the context of Annual Performance Plans (APPs) and Strategic Plans; and in National departments to report at least annually on progress in relation to the implementation of national NSP targets.
Departments of Health and Social Development Department of Health to ensure adequate provision of mental health facilities across all provinces over the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) period; https://www.dpme.gov.za/keyfocusareas/outcomesSite/Pages/mtsf2021.aspx; Psycho-social therapy needs to be made more available and accessible for all women with mental health concerns in the short, medium and long term; To increase access to psycho-social support and services by, employing and adequately deploying psychologists, social workers and psychiatrists across all municipalities; Adequate and more constructive support to be given to all shelters for victims of GBVF by the Department of Social Development in the short, medium and long term; Resources for evidence-based prevention programmes to change harmful masculinities e.g.
Stepping Stones and Creating Futures; Resources for mental health programmes, in the health sector and through community-level interventions including psychotherapy from lay counsellors; Funding for parenting programmes for vulnerable parents in the short, medium and long term; The Department of Social Development should intensify efforts to increase the provision of care, support and healing programs to all victims in line with targets outlined in its Strategic Plan and APPs; The Department of Social Development should work more closely with all stakeholders to provide and support shelters for victims of GBVF; and Basic income grants to reduce severe poverty in communities.
Department of Basic Education Enhancing school completion and implement measures to prevent drop out before matric to ensure school year is not lost due to COVID-19; Resourcing pre-school education; Teenage pregnancy prevention programmes; and Homework support programmes.

Department of Trade and Industry The Department of Trade and Industry should publicise all women-owned, new and existing enterprises funded and/or supported on an annual basis at least.
Department of Small Business and Development The Department of Small Business and Development to implement more economic empowerment programmes aimed at capacitating and supporting women-owned businesses, towards economic independence of women over the short, medium and long term; and The Department to ring-fence budgets to support informal traders in the short, medium and long term.
Department of Public Works and Infrastructure An assessment of the infrastructure development programme is required to determine its benefit to women and women-owned businesses to participate in those projects annually.
WOMEN’S PARLIAMENT 17 Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities The Department should ensure the establishment of the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NCGBVF) in keeping with the timeframes stipulated in the NSP; http://www.women.gov.za/images/GBVF/NCGBVF-Board-of-Trustees---Terms-of-Reference.pdf transparency and speed up To assist all national departments to integrate NSP targets in Strategic Plans and APPs regularly report on implementation as outlined in the NSP; To develop a mechanism to hold line departments accountable for implementation of NSP targets; To adopt and intensify implementation of programmes focussing on men and boys in the short, medium and long term; To finalise the costing of NSP before the next financial year 2021/22; An audit of the economic cluster is required with a particular focus on budgets by assessing quarterly reports over the short, medium and long term; and Ensure a solid research foundation to guide the GBVF prevention strategy and monitor and evaluate its impact in keeping with the provisions of the NSP.
Department of Labour Key data on women’s economic participation, such as the data governed by the Companies’ and Intellectual Property Commissions should be made available to university and research institutions, to analyse and track progress, for both listed and unlisted companies and their governing bodies; Post-training permanent employment of women in male-dominated industries should be regulated and incentivised; Strengthening of pay report as mandated by the Employment Equity Act by refining the measures used in the income differential statement; There should be a differentiation between the pay report and the pay audit, as there is in-depth analysis during the pay audit.
Such analysis should enable the employer to track and end unfair pay discrimination; Pay audits should be mandated for designated employers; Companies should discuss, as a separate issue, equal pay including pay audit results during the collective bargaining process; and A soft law dealing with remuneration should be introduced in the King report as a matter of good governance.
WOMEN’S PARLIAMENT 17 Provincial Government Provinces should: Have functional and effectively positioned gender mainstreaming offices to ensure effective coordination; Ensure that all institutional mechanisms in relation to the NSP are in place and capacitated in line with the identified timeframes stipulated in the policy; Localise the NSP framework to cater for the needs and realities of provinces in line with the identified timeframes stipulated in the policy; Regularly report on progress in relation to the implementation of provincial NSP targets on an annual basis; and Actively address all related challenges in implementing of programmes aimed at eradication of GBVF within the context of APPs and Strategic Plans.
Local Government All municipalities to adopt GBVF responsive Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) annually; There is a need to assist and improve the capacity of all municipalities to effectively implement constitutional man- dates towards the creation of safe communities as a key aspect of APPs and Strategic Plans; All municipalities to appoint gender focal points with adequate funding and capacity to effectively implement GBVF programmes in line with timeframes stipulated in the NSP; and All municipalities to capacitate and train community policing forums, neighbourhood watches and other related community groups on GBVF and the NSP framework as a key aspect of APPs.
WOMEN’S PARLIAMENT 17 South African Police Service (SAPS) Backlog of DNA testing to be addressed and progress reported back to the Portfolio Committee on Police on a quarterly basis; Protection orders should be served and enforced in line with the provisions as outlined in the law and policy; Prevent secondary victimisation of GBV victims by SAPS; Police officers that are guilty of abuse and harassment must be prosecuted in keeping with the statutes; Reform of the criminal justice system to be done with greater speed as outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP); https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/Executive%20Summary-NDP%202030%20-%20Our%20future%20-%20make%20it%20work.pdf Capacity building of the police to effectively deal with victims and perpetrators of GBVF; A national investigation by the Police Ombudsman on secondary victimisation at police stations across all provinces and more visible sanctions for guilty officers; and Gun, alcohol and drug control – enforcement of existing measures, prevention of corruption, action on illegal guns, measures to reduce harmful alcohol and drug abuse.
22 Judiciary To implement programmes aimed at transforming the judiciary to be gender-responsive and victim-friendly in the short, medium and long term; To up-skill prosecutors and magistrates to ensure more stringent sentencing of perpetrators; and A judicial review of sentencing.
27 Parliament To address discrimination against Muslim, Hindu and Jewish women married by religious rites; Resources must be allocated from National Treasury for preventative measures to address GBVF; The Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities should prioritise women’s economic partici- pation within the 6th Parliament; Members of Parliament should ensure that those guilty of corruption are held accountable and that the laws are strengthened to address GBVF during the 6th Parliament; The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services should urgently process the Amendment Bills related to GBVF; The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development should intensify oversight over equitable ownership of land by women in rural areas during the 6th Parliament; Ratify International Labour Organisation’s Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No.
190) together with the related Recommendation R206; Legislatures should seek to give an employee a right to obtain pay information when the employee is attempting to prove a claim in terms of section 6 (4) of the Employment Equity Act; Stronger enforcement of existing legislation; and Strengthen oversight over the Executive.
Civil society Was urged to utilise the public participation opportunities afforded by Parliament; Should be encouraged to join Parliamentary committees as a means of strengthening oversight when Parliament is in session; and Was advised to affirm their own power by engaging with public representatives and to start demanding accountability around economic participation.
CONCLUSION This report serves as a summary of the official ‘Report on Women’s Parliament 2020’ that can be accessed at: https://www.parliament.gov.za/storage/app/media/1_Stock/Events_Institutional/2020/Womens_Parliament_2020/docs/Final_Report_on_WOMENS_PARLIAMENT_for_2020.pdf In preparation for the next Women’s Parliament, think about some of the critical questions, commitments or concerns that need to be followed up.

Take part in your Parliament and its lawmaking, oversight and accountability functions.
It is your right to participate in Parliament at all levels of government and to hold organs of state to account.

27 Critical Thinking Want to exercise critical thinking skills?

Ask these questions whenever you discover or discuss new information.

These are broad and versatile questions that have limitless applications!

F V B G Who ... beneﬁts from this?

... is this harmful to?

... makes decisions about this?

... is most directly aﬀected?

... have you also heard discuss this?


... Would be the best person to consult?

... Will be the key people in this?

... deserves recogni�on for this?

What ... are the strengths/weaknesses?

... is another perspec�ve?

... is another alterna�ve?

... Would be a counter-argument?

... is the best/worst case scenario?

... is most/least important?

... Can we do to make a posi�ve change?

... is ge�ng in the way of our ac�on?

Where .. would we see this in the real world?


.. are there similar concepts/situa�ons?

.. is there the most need for this?

.. in the world would this be a problem?

… Can we get more informa�on?

… do we go for help with this?

... Will this idea take us?

… are the areas for improvement?

When ... is this acceptable/unacceptable?

... Would this beneﬁt our society?

... Would this cause a problem?

... is the best �me to take ac�on?

... will we know we’ve succeeded?


... has this played a part in our history?

... can we expect this to change?

... should we ask for help with this?

Why How ... is this a problem/challenge?

... is it relevant to me/others?

... is this the best/worst scenario?

... are people inﬂuenced by this?

... Should people know about this?

... has it been this way for so long?

... have we allowed this to happen?

... is there a need for this today?

... is this similar to _________?


... does this disrupt things?

... do we know the truth about this?

... Will we approach this safely?

... does this beneﬁt us/others?

... does this harm us/others?

... do we see this in the future?

... Can we change this for our good?


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